Cost Of Benzene Reduction In Gasoline To The Petroleum Refining Industry, Final Report.

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This report assesses the cost to the U.S. petroleum industry of removing benzene from the two largest contributors to the benzene levels in the gasoline pool--refinery reformates and FCC gasoline. Predictions were made of the 1981 gasoline pool composition and the benzene content of gasoline component streams. A process route was selected for each stream and the benzene removal costs in 1977 dollars were developed. Removal of 94.5 percent benzene from reformates and FCC gasoline would reduce U.S. average benzene content from 1.37 percent to 0.26 percent. This would require an investment of $5.3 billion and total costs of $2.5 billion per year including capital recovery, or 2.2 cents per gallon of gasoline. Costs for some small refineries would be up to 7 cents per gallon of gasoline or three times the U.S. average costs. These costs are for benzene removal only, and do not include costs of octane replacements, volume replacement or the effect on the chemical industry. When these other factors are considered, it is roughly estimated that the total costs including capital recovery would be $3.8 billion per year or 3.3 cents/gallon of gasoline.